8 
HERBACEOUS GARDEN 
plumes under the partial shade of the laburnum 
and some silvery-leaved paeonies of the old^ 
fashioned cabbage-rose type, purple and rose 
hellebores, and luminous evening primroses 
extend under and beyond the fir trees. A 
border of good perennials is established in front 
of the laurel hedge on the other side, and yet 
the whole of it is not a tenth of an acre in size ! 
One would not plant a laurel hedge for 
choice. Cupressus macrocarpa , in lovely 
feathery green, is an ideal quick-growing back- 
ground. Only in light dry soil, where frosts 
are rare, does it answer, however, and unless 
on the south coast or in some favoured spot, it 
were better to plant Thuja, nearly as good a 
grower, of a darker green and propagated 
easily from cuttings. 
Yews form the favourite background at 
present in gardens, large or small. They are 
expensive and slow-growing, but in good, 
deeply trenched soil, and planted when 2 feet 
high, will make a fine hedge in ten years . 1 
Where space is an object, the small-leaved 
privet trained against a paling is good, and so 
is ivy on a wire screen. These hedges and 
1 Yew hedges are illustrated in the photo of u A Scotch 
Garden,” and cc Hurst Court : Approach to Herbaceous 
Garden.” 
